I am restomodding my 66 and was wondering if anyone has installed modern front mustang seats in their classic. If so, do you have any pictures and advice? Thanks.

 

No pictures but more modern seats would be a must unless you're going all original. Just find a set in a scrap yard that you like and go for it. Take the back seats and try and get an upholstery shop to use the covers from them to cover your old seats also. That way everything matches.

 

You can quite literally bolt in a Fox body set of seats, including the rears from a hatchback. They are that easy. I did them in Muskrat, my '66 Mustang coupe, when I had her. Dang I still miss that car...

Anyway, you take the tracks off the buckets of your 66. Clean 'em up, lube 'em, make sure they work good.

You put them on the Fox seats. You will have to either notch out the front of the '66 tracks to use an existing bolt hole, OR you can drill out the Fox seat frame to accept a lag bolt. Your choice. I went with the notch, it worked fine, but I would do it the other way next time if I ever do it again. In any case, one hole of the track will line up with the seat, the other will not, so you gotta modify things, but it's really not a difficult thing.

Once the tracks are bolted on, you just put the seat in the car, and bolt it up. Fronts are done.

If you're interested in also acquiring the fold down seats from the Fox hatch, you get them out of the Fox, and take the three brackets as well. To install the seat bottom, you simply plop it in place. You will have to notch the pinch weld... or the seat... Can't remember. One of those. Anyway, two notches just big enough to cause the seat to be retained by the 'clamping' from the notch to the weld. You'll figure it out, it's easy.

The backs, well, you put them where you want... and then mark that somehow... I forgot how I did it. Think I put the seat bottom on, then put a seat back up, and then slid the seat back out so I could mark the bracketry on one side... then the other took care of itself... Can't remember been quite a while.

Anyway, you put the left bracket on the right side, the right bracket on the left side, and (I think) flip the middle bracket upside down. That'll mount the folding seat backs.

Tada. They pretty much just stay up unless you stop REALLY hard... and if you wanted to fashion the latches to work ,well, no big step for a stepper I imagine... And they look RIGHT... the seat bottom fits nice in between the side panels, the backs are just inside those too, and the tops of the backs are level with the package tray. It is amazing how good that all goes together, really. Modern seats in a classic, with trunk fold down access to boot!

Oh, and if you got the fronts with lumbar, you'd just run a 12v source to it... keyed or not, that'd be your call.

Oh one more thing... power or not, whatever's under the Fox seat is kicked to the curb. So getting a powered seat is really not important, you just want the bucket frames, not their tracks, as you're *going* to use the '66 tracks.. unless you feel like figuring out how to get that power seat to really work in there... seat pan might not like it.

Think that's it... have fun!

/Well. There goes me, typing a mountain again... livin' vicariously through other's builds...

 

Do you know if there are any kits for power seats out there? Do you know if any late model mustang power seat kits would work?

 

I glossed over this... Let me be more clear: You'd have to cut up the seat pan, or risk having a *really* high seat... it's not a good fit.

THAT being said... my pops has '89 Probe front seats in his '64 Falcon convertible. They're not power, but they are *tall*... but he likes it that way. He made his own holes and used a couple of blocks of wood to prop up the rears. Fits the car pretty good, and had the rear seats covered to match the probe pattern. The rails came with the probe seats, he did not use the Falcon's.

But that's the Falcon with it's higher 'top' due to it beng a vertible.

Even still, if you really want to, there is literally NOTHING that you can't do to the car... but it does require you to get the parts and figure it out if it's not 'stock' enough.

 

I do not understand the desire for power seats, unless there is some kind of physical handicap involved. I cannot imagine an easier to adjust seat than that found in the early Mustang. But if you want one, yeah, you can put it in there. Just takes power, wires and controlling devices.

 

I can. I have back issues, that power seat in my '06 makes sure the tilt is right so I don't hurt myself.

My Muskrat, if I had her today, would have a power seat... or at least, the seat would be chocked up in the back to make the tilt work out. Lumbars just make things worse for me, I can't use them. But likely, I woulda cut up the pan and welded in one outta a fox to make it work out, 'cause it's that important. I have to tell the car rental people "MUST. HAVE. A. POWER. SEAT." For the tilt, and only that.

/oh goodness.. the rent S10... during Allison (I'd had an accident), it's all they had... I was in agony for two days after that, and I drove to the airport to get it swapped out.
//Ow... hurts thinkin' about it.

 

Did not realize that. I have an untreated broken L5 from 32 years ago that impinges on my sciatic nerve. I find the rigid Recaros to be the most comfortable, but then I keep my weight down to a minimum and use my abs to manage my back condition. That and I'm a contrarian, hard case S.O.B. with a high tolerance for pain.

The coolest thing about the early Mustangs is that they are an empty canvas. There is NOTHING you cannot do with them.

 

Indeed. All is fair when you're restomodding.